Automated server deployment platform

Abstract

Described herein is a system in which a number of servers in a server pool may be decommissioned without affecting the availability of capabilities provided by that pool of servers. In some embodiments, each server may be assessed with respect to its characteristics and the applications running on that server. In some embodiments, the server may be added to a list of servers to be decommissioned. In some embodiments, each server in the list of candidate servers may be assigned a deactivation score and ordered based on those deactivation scores. An automated decommissioning system may be implemented to decommission servers on a list of servers to be decommissioned and/or based on a deactivation score associated with that server.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A server apparatus comprising:
 one or more processors; and 
 a memory including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the server apparatus to:
 receive an indication of set of servers; 
 identify, for each of the servers in the set of servers, a set of applications running on the server; 
 select a sample of servers from the set of servers; 
 identify, for each of the servers in the sample of servers, a number of applications executing on the server; 
 assign, to each of the number of applications executing on the server, a commonality that corresponds to a number of servers from the sample of servers on which that application is being executed; 
 determine, based on the commonality of each application of the number of applications with respect to the sample of servers, a status for the application; 
 determine, for each server in the set of servers, a deactivation score based on the status for each of the applications in the set of applications for that server; and 
 generate, based on the deactivation score for each server in the set of servers, a list of servers. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the list includes only servers suitable for deactivation. 
     
     
       3. The server apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the servers in the list are deactivated automatically after remaining on the list for a predetermined period of time. 
     
     
       4. The server apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the list is an ordered list, the order determined based on the deactivation score. 
     
     
       5. The server apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the instructions further cause the server apparatus to:
 receive an indication of a quantity of servers to be deactivated; and 
 deactivate the quantity of servers from the list in the order in which the servers are listed. 
 
     
     
       6. The server apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the server apparatus also receives an indication of at least one type of server, and the quantity of servers is of the indicated type. 
     
     
       7. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the commonality is determined based on a percentage of servers from the sample upon which the application is running. 
     
     
       8. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the status is one of special-purpose or standard. 
     
     
       9. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the deactivation score is determined for each server based on an amount of processing being performed with respect to each of the applications in the set of applications. 
     
     
       10. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sample is generated from a server pool that includes all available servers. 
     
     
       11. The server apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the sample is representative of server types in the server pool. 
     
     
       12. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein a user is able to edit the servers of the list of servers. 
     
     
       13. A method comprising:
 generating a sample set of servers from the plurality of servers; 
 identifying, for each of the servers in the sample set of servers, a number of applications executing on the server; 
 assigning, to each of the number of applications executing on the server, a commonality that corresponds to a number of servers from the sample set of servers on which that application is being executed; 
 receiving, from a server of a plurality of servers, identifiers for each of a set of applications running on the server; 
 determining, for each application in the set of applications, a likelihood that the application is a special-purpose application based on a commonality associated with that application; 
 identifying a subset of the set of applications for which the likelihood that each application in the subset is a special-purpose application is above a predetermined threshold; 
 determining, based on the subset of the set of applications, that the server is a candidate for decommissioning; and 
 providing a notification including an indication that the server should be decommissioned. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , wherein determining the likelihood that the application is a special-purpose application comprises:
 comparing the commonality assigned to the application to a threshold commonality value. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein the application is determined to be a special-purpose application if the commonality assigned to the application is below the threshold commonality value. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a user, a permission to decommission the server; and 
 initiating a decommissioning process for the server. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 13 , wherein the indication that the server should be decommissioned is provided via a list of servers to be decommissioned. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the server is removed from the list of servers to be decommissioned upon being certified. 
     
     
       19. The server apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the deactivation score comprises a sum of the commonality of each application multiplied by amount of processing being performed by that application divided by a total amount of processing being performed by the server. 
     
     
       20. The server apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the sample of servers is selected from the set of servers at random.